Starting to Get the Picture
by xXSedationXx
Summary: Short blurb, BB, OCX2.  Winter time at Wammy's and plotting is being done.  Complete.  Enjoy!


Beyond Birthday looked at the girl in front of him as if she had just grown a second head. Annabella Nix did not like, nor appreciate that look from him, but she smiled nonetheless. She held her hair brush out to him then, smile never faltering.

"No, you can't be serious... you want me to brush your hair?" Beyond asked her then, as Annabella nodded happily.

"Yes, seriously, I want you to brush my hair." She answered back then, pressing the pink brush into his hand. Beyond sighed and then sat down in a near by chair.

"Fine, but you leave me alone as I brood tonight." He breathed contemptuously at her.

"Deal." Annabella knelt down, Japanese style, on the floor in front of him, pulling her hair out of it's customary tail, and then wrapping the band around her wrist. "Chester's busy, and 'Suki gets weird when I ask Matt to do it." Beyond had hoped that his little performance in the dining room the other night would keep Annabella away from him longer, but he had been sorely mistaken. Looking at the young girls prematurely gray hair, he started to brush.

"Do you blame her? Look at her best friend.." Beyond was of course talking about his Clemi, and he knew that Annabella would follow his reasoning. Itsuki was scared of the other females in the house, and their stares at Matt here as of late. Beyond himself couldn't help but draw the parallels to L, Clementine, and himself in their relationship. Clementine had at one point been Beyond's alone, and now she was L's. Beyond worked on a slight tangle, working it free with his fingers before he continued to brush.

"Oh, no, I don't blame her. But she has nothing to worry about from me." Annabella answered back, folding her hands in her lap and closing her eyes. "That feels good." She said offhandedly then.

"And should I be worried about you?" Beyond asked then, frowning.

"No. And neither should Clemi. I have my sights set on Chester and Chester alone." Annabella spoke slowly, as if the brushing was putting her into a trance.

"Good. Because you know that I one day may kill you if you get too close."

"No you won't. You've not killed Clemi, why would you kill me?" Annabella asked then, opening her eyes and staring out the window, the first snow of the season was starting.

"One day I have have to." Was Beyond's only response.

"If that day comes, then we'll cross that bridge then. Now. Why I really cornered you this evening." Annabella said, eyes watching the flakes as they fell outside.

"I had a feeling that this was more than it appeared to be." Beyond stated slowly, putting the brush aside after he had parted Annabella's hair into four parts, working on a fishtail braid then. The motions kept his hands busy, which he had been finding kept him from plotting murdering L, if only for a little while.

"It is more than it appears to be. Mello asked me to find you and tell you that his plan is underway, and that you should soon look at options." Beyond's hands stopped but for a moment, but it was long enough for Annabella to let out a slight giggle.

"So he told you then.." Beyond asked, pulling the braid a little tighter than he had too, not enough to hurt, but enough to sting slightly.

"Yes, he told me. And get this. He's bringing Near in as well. They could never work together.. Mello swore he'd never work with Near, but apparently this is big enough to warrant Near's help. Funny thing is, Near accepted with out hearing the full explanation too. I suppose Near looks at Clemi as a mom as well." Annabella went on rambling a moment before she stopped, handing the tie back to Beyond to finish off the braid.

"When Near was first brought here Clementine was the only one who could get him to talk at first. And then eventually he talked to others, but it was only her. She got him to eat, to sleep and to actually talk, even if it wasn't much. If he doesn't see her as a mom, then he sees her as an equal, and perhaps feels like he owes her a debt. That much, is as far as I can comment on the boy." Beyond finished the braid then, and used the band to tie the braid off, handing Annabella her brush back. "All done." Annabella reached back and felt her hair then, smiling a bit, before looking back at the older killer.

"So, Chester's gonna fall in love with it?" She asked him then.

"Chester will enjoy being in your company, regardless of what your hair looks like, but yes, he will love it." Beyond got up from the chair then, cracking his neck and then his fingers, his own eyes looking at the freshly falling snow. "We should have a few feet by morning if it keeps up like this.." He spoke, mostly to himself, but Annabella took it as he was talking to her.

"Maybe. They're calling for at least two feet, but if Matt's right and this front keeps over us much longer, then we'll probably have three to four feet by the end of the night." Annabella went to the window then, her breath fogging the cooled glass. Beyond scowled. It was the night of the new moon, and he needed to go out and have his fun, as much of a necessity as it was a compulsion now. If he didn't "play" with something soon, he would inadvertently harm one of the children, and that repulsed even him any more.

"Go on, let me be now so I can "brood"." He shooed her off, and Annabella gave him a quick hug as she went on her way.

"Thanks Dad." Was all she said as she skipped off to God only knew what.

"D..Dad?" Beyond questioned the now supposedly empty room now. "What a joke.." He muttered to himself before he took his seat again at the window and watched the snow fall. But he was going to be a Dad, and in a way, had been a Dad so far to the kids. They loved Clemi like a mom, so the following logic was that they would view him as dad in that situation, seeing as how they where all stuck in this little scheme now to get Clementine back to him and away from L. So why did that bother him so? Being called Dad. He was a murderer, true, but he was no dad. No, he could deal with big brother, but dad... Something about it made him feel sick. He was not meant to be a dad, a big brother..no, he had to be the replacement, the back up. The second in line. He heard the footsteps behind him around the same time as he felt two cool hands slide around his shoulders.

"And what's so joke-ish about it?" The female voice asked. Clementine. Beyond closed his eyes as he smelled her. Patchouli, vanilla, bergamot..L's soap was missing from the smell now, but there was something there he couldn't identify, something new, something spicy in her scent that made his lower abdomen tighten, and it was all he could do to take a fresh breath of air as to not embarrass himself.

"Please. You know as well as I that I am not father material. I'm a compulsive murderer, driven mad by trying to be better than him, what about that mixture makes me seem like a father.." Beyond scoffed then, putting one of his hands over his heart, over where her hands had come to rest. His thumb moved by itself, stroking the back of her hand, as he continued to watch the snow.

"Oh... you have your moments of clarity, and sanity, and it's then that I see it. You braided her hair...and didn't slit her throat while you did it. I say that counts for something." Jurrie Clancy, real name, Clementine Goodspeed, watched the snow fall as well, her fingers splaying a bit as she went to hold her first love's hand. She closed her eyes then, waiting.

"Maybe. But maybe isn't good enough." Beyond finally answered her, ears on high alert now for the sound of bare feet on the hard wood floor. L always seemed to interrupt them at times like this. Times when he had his Clemi alone, times when he tried to be as good as possible to her, to gain some sort of forgiveness for the wrongs he had done her in the past.

"You know what I think?" She asked then, leaning down so that her lips barely touched the back of his ear, her warm breath tickling the fine hairs there.

"No, you're a woman, but I'm starting to get the picture." Beyond told her, saying to hell with embarrassing himself.

"Good." Was the only reply she gave him as she let go of his hand, daringly let the tip of her tongue slide across the lobe of his ear, before she turned abruptly and left, her own bare feet padding almost silently across the hard wood floor. Beyond took a deep breath when he knew she was out of ear shot, closed his eyes, and started to plot out his plan of killing L.


End file.
